Against the Red Sox, the Yankees Simply Don’t Measure Up

At the end, at last, the play matched the hype. Nearly 50,000 fans, standing and screaming, praying and pleading that the old Bronx ghosts would swallow up the Red Sox one more time. The Boston pitcher unraveling. The Yankees’ bats stirring. Maybe, just maybe … and then … no.

“I was out,” Gleyber Torres said, flatly, and the replay confirmed what he knew. Steve Pearce kept his foot on first base. A furious comeback fell short in the bottom of the ninth, Craig Kimbrel held on, and the Yankees’ season expired with a 4-3 loss in Game 4 of the American League division series. That makes nine seasons in a row without a championship, and another Red Sox celebration on Yankee ground.

“That’s the one team that you don’t want to lose to,” said Brett Gardner, the veteran Yankees outfielder. “We hate losing to them, and we love beating them. They just had our number this year. They have a great team, and we just weren’t able to do enough to overcome them.”

Until the frantic finish, the standout moment of the rivals’ first postseason duel in 14 years was more comedic than dramatic: the Yankees’ backup catcher, Austin Romine, allowing a home run to Boston’s Brock Holt on Monday for the first cycle in playoff history. As a lingering image from this series, it will not inspire screenplays.

The Red Sox are onto bigger things — an A.L. Championship Series date with the Houston Astros, the defending World Series champions, starting Saturday night at Fenway Park. The Yankees will scatter for the winter, with 100 regular-season victories to keep them warm. But how much did they really improve?

This lopsided series aside, the rivalry is hot again because the Yankees so clearly measure themselves against the Red Sox, even more than in the recent past. The rest of the division cannot keep up. The Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles are rebuilding, and the Tampa Bay Rays are plucky and dangerous, but not a superpower.

The Red Sox are. They backed up their franchise-record 108 victories by pushing aside the Yankees and exposing the limits of their vaunted offense. The Yankees led the majors in homers last season, added Giancarlo Stanton in a trade, and promptly set a major league record for homers this season, with 267.

But just like the team whose record they broke — the 1997 Seattle Mariners — the Yankees went bust in the division series, confounded by a solid pitching staff. Except for their Game 2 outburst against a rattled David Price, the Yankees were punchless when it mattered most.

“One of their goals in this series was to keep us in the ballpark, and then coming in here, where we’re so good at that, they were able to do it,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said. “Credit to them for being able to hold us down.”

It was the first time since early April that the Yankees had failed to hit a homer in consecutive games at Yankee Stadium.

“We have to keep them in the ballpark — that’s the most important thing,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora had said before the series, and he was right.

The Yankees had the pitching talent to make a deep postseason run, despite a poor showing in this series. But they hit only .249 this season, the worst average among baseball’s 10 playoff teams. If they did not hit a homer, they often struggled for hits. Red Sox starters Nathan Eovaldi and Rick Porcello combined for 12 innings at Yankee Stadium, allowing only nine hits and two runs to thwart the Yankees’ plan.

“Obviously our goal in this series was to try to get into that bullpen as soon as possible,” Gardner said. “When a guy like Porcello and Eovaldi gives them that length, it’s kind of hard to do.”

The Yankees were 4 for 26 with runners in scoring position in the series and hit .214 overall. Batting average was an overrated statistic for years, mainly because it obscured other factors crucial to run production. Now, perhaps, it is undervalued.

Since the A.L. adopted the designated hitter in 1973, the Yankees have hit for a lower batting average than .249 just three times: in 1990, when they lost 95 games, and in 2013 and 2014, when they missed the playoffs.

Each of the top seven teams in batting average this season won at least 90 games. It sounds so simple to say, but hits remain really important — and this is where the Yankees and the Red Sox wildly diverged. Last season, the Yankees had two more hits than the Red Sox. This season, the Red Sox had 135 more hits than the Yankees.

The Yankees’ pitchers trailed only Houston’s staff in strikeouts, but their hitters whiffed too often, a trait that good pitchers often exploit in October. The Yankees ranked ninth in the major leagues in strikeouts by their hitters, while the Red Sox’ offense ranked 26th. And Boston had almost twice as many stolen bases as the Yankees — 125 to 63.

“Last night I had one home run, but we really scored 16 runs without hitting the long ball,” Holt said, drenched in bubbly in the joyous Red Sox clubhouse on Tuesday night. “But we’ve got guys that can leave at any time, and we’ve got guys that run the bases. We can beat you in a lot of ways. It’s a fun offense to be a part of.”

It sure seems that way. The Red Sox hit .268 this season — nine points better than the next-closest team in the majors, the Cleveland Indians. Boston finished ninth in homers but scored the most runs.

“If you’re a starter facing their lineup, you face them three times without giving up a run, you’ve done something amazing, because they usually chip away and score runs on you,” Yankees reliever David Robertson said. “They grind out at-bats, foul balls off, get on second base and just cause havoc. If you’re not on top of your game, they can put up the runs on you real quick.”

The Yankees had a fine season, to be sure. Miguel Andujar and Torres confirmed the Yankees’ hopes for them; they are, indeed, high-impact young stars. In Boone’s first season as manager, the team improved by nine wins.

Trouble is, in Cora’s first season as manager, the Red Sox improved by 15 wins. Their high-impact young stars — Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts — are further along in their primes, and all under team control for next season, too.

And while Stanton led the Yankees in home runs (38), runs batted in (100) and games played (158) while hitting .266, Boston’s new slugger, J.D. Martinez, was better. He led the majors in total bases and nearly won the Triple Crown.

“We can hit the ball out of the ballpark, which is better than it was last year, power-wise,” said Dave Dombrowski, Boston’s president of baseball operations. “But we make contact, guys can run the bases, we’re athletic, and we’re a good defensive club. I think it’s important to go that way.”

The Red Sox have their flaws. The Yankees built a deeper bullpen, even though Boone seemed strangely hesitant to use it early in Games 3 and 4. Cora used Porcello in relief in Game 1 and Chris Sale in relief in Game 4; he might be able to survive the postseason that way, but it will not be easy.

In any case, his team — like the Astros — has earned the chance. The Red Sox ran away with the division, even with Sale limited down the stretch. Dombrowski fortified the roster with trades for Pearce, starter Nathan Eovaldi and second baseman Ian Kinsler. His counterpart with the Astros, Jeff Luhnow, added an ace last winter in Gerrit Cole, and power relievers this summer in Ryan Pressly and Roberto Osuna.

The Yankees’ general manager, Brian Cashman, made a series of pivotal in-season moves, trading for J.A. Happ, Zach Britton and Luke Voit. But the foundation of his team was simply not strong enough to find more than one way to beat the Red Sox.

Just as they did in the regular season, the Yankees had more strikeouts than hits in the series. Their only win came on the strength of three towering homers in Game 2 at Fenway. The Red Sox could not have been surprised. If they kept the Yankees in the ballpark, they knew they could win — and that is just what they did.

The Yankees are onto the ALCS! The Yankees are onto the ALCS! I’m still in shock. Happy shock. I got about 20 seconds of sleep from being so amped up by the time I turned off the TV last night!

CC was tremendous. D-Rob was tremendous. Chapman was tremendous. And that’s just the pitching.

Didi’s two homers not only chased Kluber ultimately but gave CC and the rest of us some room to breathe. With an early lead, the Yankees at least had a chance. But the key for me was, of course, that Herculean at-bat by Gardner, fouling off pitch after pitch with two on base, ultimately knocking in those runs. Wow. Just wow.

I could spread the kudos around to everybody – all the Yankees contributed during this series. But I was just so happy for them when it was over. They fought and fought during each elimination game and came through. So resilient. Especially Chapman. I thought his arm would fall off, but no. He was sensational. Will he have any gas in the tank for Houston? I’ll worry about that tomorrow.

Was I surprised that the vaunted Indians didn’t perform better? You bet. They were the team to beat, but they had so many errors. I’m sure they’ll be brooding about those missed opportunities during the off-season. They’re a great team that just didn’t get it done.

Of course, I do take credit for all of this. I ate my lucky club sandwich before each and every win, and I’m so sick of them I want to hurl. But hey, a fan has to do what a fan has to do and I’ll be choking back another on Friday night.

Oh – one thing: a plea to Girardi. PLEASE drop Judge down in the order to, like, 7th. I love Judge, but the strikeouts are ridiculous. Until someone teaches him how to hit a curveball, move him down in the order.

Yes, it’s another old picture, but last night’s game ended too late for me to pop champagne. Suffice it to say I was celebrating in my mind. The Yankees are going to the ALDS!!!!

The game was such a bummer in the beginning. Severino was clearly overawed/nervous/too pumped, not to mention too inexperienced to start a one-game wild card playoff with everything on the line. He’s a kid. Too much pressure on him, as good as he’s been this season. He got knocked around in the first, couldn’t locate, couldn’t get outs – until he was out, and thank God. I kept yelling, “Pull him, Joe!”

And Joe listened. Chad Green was superb in early relief, truly. His strikeouts were huge, setting up a chance for the Yanks to come back in the bottom of the first (bless you, Didi; Gardner too). Of course, Judge had a homer as well in his first postseason game, because Judge has destiny on his side. Everyone in the Stadium crowd seemed to be wearing #99 on their backs. I loved that the pitch before the homer was up and in by Santana, and Judge glared at him – just as Gardner did – before taking him deep.

And then there was D-Rob. I hope his arm doesn’t fall off. He was a trooper, pitching so well for so long when he’s used to one or maybe two innings, no more. He got us through to the other relievers, who held the Twins scoreless the rest of the way. Sure, we burned the bullpen, which doesn’t bode well for the future, but that’s how it goes when you’re fighting for a spot in the ALDS.

I would love to have seen the Yankees do more scoring after the flurry early, just to give myself some breathing room and to let Joe use the mop-up guys in the pen, but I’m not complaining. I’ve been tough on Joe this season, but he made all the right moves last night.

Well, I am complaining, but it’s ESPN I’m mad at. Number one: why must the games start at 8pm and drag on forever thanks to their zillion commercials? And the commentary is mind-numbing; the trio in the booth never shut up.

But now it’s on to Cleveland and the start time on Thursday night is 7:30 on FS1. My Tribe fan friend tells me it’s supposed to pour that night. She also said she’s hoping for midges; it’s that time of year. The Yankees’ path to victory against the Indians won’t be easy (ugh- Cory Kluber), but we’ll see. We know how to deal with midges now, and it’s not bug spray.

Since Game 1 of the ALCS is tomorrow night and Andy Pettitte abstained from alcohol consumption in the clubhouse so he could take the mound without a hangover, I followed his example for my clinching photo. No champagne but lots of tattoos. (I got the idea after watching CC at his press conference, sporting that sleeveless shirt with all those insane tats running down his arms.)

What an ace. He took the game and put it on his massive back. Even Amber tweeted about what a beast he is and signed it with the hashtag “proud wife.” Aww.

It was another tense battle, as only Yankees-Orioles games are these days, and that first run felt like relief, although I knew we had to pad the lead. How cool that Tex stole second! How cool that Ichiro stole second! How cool that Granderson broke through his fog! How cool that Raul continued to be, well, cool!

I thought Showalter was classy in his post-game remarks, not only commending the umpires for their handling of the disputed homer but congratulating the Yankees for moving forward. He must be quite the role model to those young players in Baltimore. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of tight contests with them next year.

And now it’s onto the Tigers. At least we don’t have Verlander tomorrow, but Miguel Cabrera? Scary. But let’s worry about tomorrow tomorrow and let the happiness of tonight linger.

I was very grouchy after the loooong wait for this game. I got even grouchier as the scored remained deadlocked and the Yankees had me flashing back to their RISP failures of the regular season. Between the stranded runners, the baserunning blunders and Jeter’s uncharacteristic bobble, I couldn’t stop growling. I even grumbled that Cano must have been reading all the articles about his “sweet swing” because instead of carrying the offense he couldn’t seem to stop swinging at balls. There was only one happy note: CC. He kept getting routine outs from the Orioles and kept my hopes alive.

And then along came the Russ Bus.

Martin’s homer against Johnson in the ninth was worth waiting for. Suddenly, I could breathe. Whew. And then the floodgates opened and the game became fun with a 7-2 score.

CC. Wow. Maybe his time-out with the injury gave him a second wind because he’s been great ever since he came back. He sure earned his money tonight.

It’s always a relief to win the first one in a short series (at the away ballpark, no less), so this was big. What to make of the packed house of orange wearing, “Yankees suck” chanting people? I’d only ask: Where were they all season long and couldn’t they have come up with a more creative way to disparage the opponent?

And then there was TBS’ coverage. Ripken and Smoltz were exceptional players, obviously, but didn’t they sound depressed when the Yanks scored in the ninth? I thought somebody had died.

As I watched the second half of their game tonight , I was kind of hoping the Rangers would come back and win – for no other reason than I get a kick out of seeing Nolan Ryan sit in his seat scowling. Instead, I guess I’ll have to get a kick out of seeing Buck Showalter stand in his dugout looking intense.

Photo: J. Meric/Getty Image

I think it was inevitable that the Yankees and Orioles would square off in Round 1 of the postseason. The O’s have had a charmed season and they, not the Red Sox or the Rays, have been our nemeses. Their pitching has vastly improved and their bats are as lively as ever, and they’re just plain tough. But unlike Arlington, Baltimore will have lots of fans wearing pinstriped jerseys and after so many games at Camden Yards our boys will feel at home. I hope.

All I know is that I’ve been trying to relax since we clinched and now just typing this post is making me nervous. I was so caught up in our winning the division that I forgot the ALDS always sends me into panic mode. It’s such a short series. Every inning matters, every at bat, every pitch.

I’m nervous just thinking about turning on the TV for tomorrow night’s Game 5. So in anticipation of the first pitch and the accompanying sweats, heart palpitations, nausea, headache and testy temperament, I went browsing on the web and came up with Seven Tips for Relieving Stress from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

Here they are.

Allow plenty of time. Being too busy is a big source of stress.

Exercise. It’s a great stress buster.

Get plenty of rest and eat well. You’ll be able to handle stress better when it does come up.

Discuss your problems with a friend or family member.

When stress hits big, take a time-out. A few minutes away from the problem can help.

Breathe deeply — slowly in, slowly out. Think of something pleasant.

Ask for help. If you feel like your stress is just too much, talk with your family, a friend or a counselor.

I translate the above to mean:

Allow plenty of time before the game to get in your lucky clothes and sit in your lucky seat.

Do jumping jacks between innings.

Order a pizza in the third inning. No, two pizzas.

Go on this blog or twitter or watch the game with an actual human.

Walk away from the TV during the commercials (or when TBS shows Leyland in the Tigers dugout).

Think of the 2011 Yankees holding up that championship trophy and pouring champagne on each other.

Call me. On second thought, call 911.

Good luck, everyone, and let’s go Yankees!

P.S. Here’s a pic sent in by Friend of the Blog Peggy. It’s a total stress-reducer: her Yankee fan cat!

This just in: it’s officially Yankee Pet Day. Friend of the Blog Audrey sent a pic of her pooch. Can I hear a collective “Awwww.”

I’m nervous just thinking about turning on the TV for tomorrow night’s Game 5. So in anticipation of the first pitch and the accompanying sweats, heart palpitations, nausea, headache and testy temperament, I went browsing on the web and came up with Seven Tips for Relieving Stress from the Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

Here they are.

Allow plenty of time. Being too busy is a big source of stress.

Exercise. It’s a great stress buster.

Get plenty of rest and eat well. You’ll be able to handle stress better when it does come up.

Discuss your problems with a friend or family member.

When stress hits big, take a time-out. A few minutes away from the problem can help.

Breathe deeply — slowly in, slowly out. Think of something pleasant.

Ask for help. If you feel like your stress is just too much, talk with your family, a friend or a counselor.

I translate the above to mean:

Allow plenty of time before the game to get in your lucky clothes and sit in your lucky seat.

Do jumping jacks between innings.

Order a pizza in the third inning. No, two pizzas.

Go on this blog or twitter or watch the game with an actual human.

Walk away from the TV during the commercials (or when TBS shows Leyland in the Tigers dugout).

Think of the 2011 Yankees holding up that championship trophy and pouring champagne on each other.

Call me. On second thought, call 911.

Good luck, everyone, and let’s go Yankees!

P.S. Here’s a pic sent in by Friend of the Blog Peggy. It’s a total stress-reducer: her Yankee fan cat!

This just in: it’s officially Yankee Pet Day. Friend of the Blog Audrey sent a pic of her pooch. Can I hear a collective “Awwww.”